Come September, the energy invariably kicks it up a big, big notch. This September 2012 Equinox is about intense effort – even if that effort is just about keeping up with the changes in one’s personal life, trying to keep up with technological change, or the sweeping changes on the planet. When things get too intense, I like to sit a while and watch ants. They can carry a load 50x their weight. They are always working, and always busy. I think the qualities I most admire about them are their perseverance, tenacity and endurance. They just never give up. Think about that. Their homes get washed away, half of them may be annihilated by extermination, changes in their habitat environment, or by human and animal encroachment. And yet on the next Ant Monday morning, they are back at work, rebuilding and cooperating together for a common goal. I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately as I observe how different people react to the intensification of stress in their lives. Many cope the best they can and try to maintain the status quo; others use the opportunity to go deeper into themselves, to know themselves as never so deeply before. Still others direct unhealed anger at others; become self-righteous, look for something to save them; or – and this I see a lot – try to maintain a semblance of normalcy by attempting to control everything and everyone in their lives with a death grip. The thing is – metaphysically it’s intense now just so we CAN change. Clean up loose ends, change the habitual way we respond to life’s challenges, and above all, it’s now the time for us to drop down so deeply into ourselves that we discover our own depth, our own love, our own power. If our spirituality were nothing more than touching inside our emotional selves – you know, the way we reach outside ourselves a thousand times a day – if we would summon our power to give to ourselves the feeling of being loved, appreciated, healed, free, replacing our loneliness and alienation with our own self-love – then we would be in alignment with the Creative Energy. It has to respond to like energy, supplying all our needs. That’s just the way vibration works. For me, the biggest jaw-dropper is catching the perfect interdependence and interaction of every single aspect of nature, even the teeniest ones, if left unhindered. We spend so much effort trying to subdue and conquer the natural order of things instead of learning how to co-exist and appreciate the gifts of it. Half our problems and the world’s would drop away in one day if we could do that. Because then we wouldn’t be minding everyone else’s business, judging others, being fearful, spitefully coveting others’ success or goods, and not realizing that what we do to others, (including Nature) we do to ourselves. FOR REAL. We really are, not only in the same soup, we are the same soup. We could have the most valuable treasure in the world. Man, there’s nothing comes near to dwelling in our own self-realization, but it takes being willing to go into awareness – It takes getting REAL – EYES ’d. So, next time you’re overwhelmed, consider going outside to sit with some ants. Let them give you their medicine. This Equinox I’d like to gift you with the transmission the Ant Nation gave to me back in 2004 when I first wrote my articles on Ant Totem. I think it still holds up. Blessings to you. Bless yourself. Be with yourself first. From that stems all service to the world. In kinship, Cie We, the Ant people, the One, find joy in giving ourselves over to purpose. Indeed, we have individual purpose, for which we are superbly suited, and we contribute, as well to the whole. Within this activity, there is great creativity, change, and experience, from which we learn and adapt. We are tiny, so you do not notice us; however, if you were aware, you would see that we are everywhere. Understand that it is through deliberate, consistent efforts that a goal is reached. We take one grain of sand out of the earth at a time – one! We even use this grain to add unto our nest site. Nothing is wasted. We work diligently. It makes us strong and patient. Combined effort creates magnificent realization, each of us contributing a little bit. We move upon the earth, inch by inch. We are undaunted by obstacles, using them to create new solutions. Can you see how this is the medicine for our time? WE ARE ANT. Our social organization is quite sophisticated, for there is a depth of perception and cooperation that is not merely chemical, that is not just touch. There is a way that we communicate which would be helpful for you to understand and apply in your own lives – in the human colony. We ask you to walk lightly upon the earth, so that you do not unwittingly kill us, or uncaringly disturb that which we have created. Size is not the greatest determinant of value.